From the very outset in the West—from the time of Homer himself in about 750 BCE—the epic has been the most highly regarded of literary genres. It is rivaled only by tragedy, which arose a bit more than two centuries later, as the most respected, the most influential, and, from a slightly different vantage point, the most prestigious mode of addressing the human condition in literary terms. The major epics are the big boys, the works that, from the very outset, everyone had heard of and everyone knew, at least by reputation.
Epics for Students is designed to provide students and other researchers with a guide to understanding and enjoying the epic literature that is most studied in classrooms. Each entry includes an introductory essay; biographical information on the author; a plot summary; an examination of the epic’s principal themes, style, construction, historical background and critical reception; and an original critical essay supplemented by excerpted previously published criticism. In addition, entries typically include information on media adaptations; reading recommendations; a list of study questions; and more.
"Epics of Sumerian Kings" presents for the first time both the authoritative Sumerian text and an elegant English translation of four epics which are major works in the Sumerian literary canon and the earliest epics known in any language. The epics revolve around the conflict between the cities of Uruk (biblical Erech) in ancient Iraq and Aratta in neighboring Iran. The introduction discusses the intellectual and cultural context of the epics, their poetics and meaning, and the significance of the cycle as a whole.
